home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <text id=89TT0487>
- <title>
- Feb. 20, 1989: Business Notes:Telecommunications
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Feb. 20, 1989 Betrayal:Marine Spy Scandal
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 75
- Business Notes
- TELECOMMUNICATIONS
- Rome Calling Ma Bell
- </hdr><body>
- <p> One of Italy's most famous antiquities is surely its
- telephone system. But now AT&T aims to help bring it into the
- 20th century. Last week Italtel, an Italian telecommunications
- equipment maker, said it has chosen AT&T as its partner in a
- five-year, $27 billion government-subsidized mega-project to
- rebuild the country's cranky telephone system virtually from
- scratch. As one of the main contractors on the project, Italtel
- will supply most of the basic equipment, while AT&T will
- provide the know-how, software and supercomputers that will make
- Italian phone lines hum efficiently. The job may be worth
- several billion dollars to Ma Bell.
- </p>
- <p> The deal, which is expected to be approved by the Italian
- government, was a coup for the U.S. firm. AT&T triumphed over a
- homegrown bid from Fiat, as well as proposals from French, West
- German and Swedish competitors. The Italian project will help
- give AT&T a strong foothold in the fast-growing European
- telecommunications market. Italtel, for its part, hopes to
- parlay its new association into expanded phone-equipment
- exports.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-